Bud Harbsmeier to be honored for his work in TV news, WHAS telethon

May 30, 2013 3:11 PM

Bud Harbsmeier

The air conditioning was on the fritz, and it was starting to get warm inside the studio during a WHAS Crusade for Children telethon in the late 1980s. Outside, a hot Louisville June sun beat down. In front of the cameras, firefighters read names of local donors.

Bud Harbsmeier, director of the Crusade, was scrambling to get the air conditioning back on. “In those days, if it got too hot, the cameras went down.” Camera operators and firefighters broke out in a sweat while technicians raced to fix the climate control.

Finally, the air conditioning came back on. Gradually, the temperature in the studio reached reasonable levels. The telethon continued without interruption.

“Nobody knew about it, unless you were there sweating,” Harbsmeier said in a recent interview, looking back on his 20 years at the helm of the Crusade.

During the Crusade telethon this weekend, the charity celebrates its 60th anniversary. And next month, the Ohio Valley chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the Emmy awards, will honor Harbsmeier for more than 50 years of service.

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